Nikko part 2

Hey,



When I was falling asleep the first night in Nikko, I decided to stay another night, so I did. I went up to Lake Chirzenji and walked around for a really long time (without the big packpack). It`s this beautiful lake almost a mile above sea level, where the buses have to go on this winding narrow road both up and down, which affords you an AMAZING view of the mountain range (with snow of course). Once there, I got cold. Mountains right, you expect wind. Sean didn`t plan for wind. At least not that day. Oh well, I braved it anyways. I went first to a natural history museum, where this nice old guy told me it was my lucky day, because they were doing renovations on the museum, I could see the first floor and the film for free. So I watched a film on the seasons around the Lake, and learned that there are bears in Japan, so don`t feed them.



The lake feeds a waterfall, and of course that was pretty (you`ll see pictures). I decided to do a nature hike around the lake, where I learned that the country of Japan was so nice, they gave lakeside villas to the Embassies of France, Belgium, England, and Italy (maybe more, but that`s as far as I got before I got hungry and turned around). I don`t know if anyone was inhabiting them, but that`s not a bad place to stay in the spring/summer.



So I go back to the town, where I encountered another language difficulty. I wasn`t sure where I wanted to eat, so I started looking at the places around town. Most places have pictures with Yen amounts as part of a sign out front of the restaurant, so I like to look these over. If the place is slow, and the owner/chef/chef`s wife/etc. sees you outside looking, they will motion you in and start talking at you in Japanese. I can`t turn down a kindly old lady, so I went in to the first restaurant I looked at.



That was a wise move, for your sake.



She sits me down at a table with a beautiful view of the lake, and I`m the only one in the place. There are fishes on the wall (trophy like), and it gives the aura of a cabin in the woods that you would find in New Hampshire or something. I ask the lady what the local specialty is (that phrase is in the book, at least), and she points to an item on the menu and tells me the fish are caught in the lake outside (at least, that`s what I got with the hand gestures). Fried sardines, very tasty.



I`m sitting there, and three people come in. What looks like a husband and wife, and their kid. They say hi to me, ask where I`m from (me understanding what they were asking took 1 minute), and sat down at their table (far from me, most japanese people don`t really want to sit near me. I shower, so it can`t be the smell...) and talked about me without me understanding any words in their conversation besides ``Amerika``. What strikes me as odd, is at one point, the wife gets down and ties the guys shoes. Japan is a country that sticks to their old defined gender roles, I guess.



5 minutes later, 4 well dressed men walk into the place, greet the three already there, and go over to them. The one in charge (sunglasses, slick hair) comes to me, and speaks very boisterously. The conversation was long, but not much was ascertained (by either party), except that I was american tourist and I flew over on a Jet plane. They go over, one guy shows the boss an air rifle (maybe a real rifle, not sure), and they all smoke like crazy together. I get lots of glances at me, and lots of ``amerika`` coming from the table. Over the course of the meal, the woman actually discovers she can speak, and translates.



``Do you have Japanese money?``

``Yen? Um.. yes.``

``Do you have a job?``

``In Japan? No, but in America, I am a sashimi cook (this gets me in, it works)``

*at this point, the ``father`` chimes in*

-points at guy with sunglasses-

``You know Yakuza?``

``Yeah.``

``This guy Yakuza... Big Boss!``

``Konichiwa`` I say, while trying to have a big old smile. I pretend like I`m taking a picture, we all laugh.



I`m not sure if it was true or not, but they did get into 3 really nice Mercedes, and honk at me when driving past. One of the Henchmen did try to compare himself to me when I got up and paid (He was as tall as me, and his legs were just as long. This brought them all immense joy). I didn`t ask to see tatoos, and I think that was the right decision. But it is fun to say I had lunch with the Yakuza.



Anyways, after that, my heart was racing a bit, so I walked around town a little more, and then I went to an Onsen. That`s Japanese for ``really hot bath with naked people.`` You get used to it really fast (the nakedness, not the heat), but it is an endurance trial (the heat, not the nakedness). Over 3 hours, I went in 3 times, for a total of 30 -45 minutes. Between each session, I rested and watched sumo on tv for about 40 min.



The strangest thing was that one guy actually struck up a conversation with me. Younger middle aged guy (probably not much older than me), he spoke English and we talked about Jazz, Sumo, Baseball, and TV. He is a Program Director for a big Tokyo network, so we bonded over that, and the fact that we were naked in water hot enough to cook pasta (or a lobster, for that matter). I saw him afterwards, during one of my breaks, dressed, and it was a bit odd.



So yeah, that experience was about as exhausting as the hiking with my backpack the previous day, so I went back to town to get dinner. I also found a great used kimono shop, and using my crappy phrasebook, an online translator, and his boss (who spoke some English, but didn`t understand enough), I bought two Kimonos and to Obis. Normally these things are like thousands of dollars, but used ones are drastically cut in price, so that`s cool.



Dinner then. The night before, I forgot to mention, I asked for the advice of the Hostel Owner lady, and she directed me to this Okonomiyaki place (make your own Japanese pancake). It was really good, a hole in the wall, frequented by locals. The next night, I went to a place suggested by Lonely Planet. It was plastered with buisness cards of all types, all with phrases from people around the world saying how awesome it was, etc...



Eh..



Maybe I`m a snob, but it wasn`t that exciting. Decent noodles, the meatballs were tasty, but not crazy good. I did however, meet a french guy who was traveling, and once I told him I knew french, he spoke to me in french and I did my best to respond. It was refreshing to actually understand what someone was talking about in a foreign language. Oddly enough, it turned out he was at my hostel, so we chatted for a good part of the night, along with this canadian ESOL teacher, who was older middle aged, and a role model to travelers everywhere. The things this man has done, and the way he did them, was amazing to listen to, and inspiring. Well, and a bit scary. A cross continent road trip of Europe by hitchhiking. I feel that`s not really possible in today`s world, at least without losing a finger or two.



Anyways, signing off for now, I`ve been at this for about an hour, and I`m going to go eat Wanko-Soba, Morioka`s speciality. Basically all you can eat soba noodles. Should be interesting.